Court+Cases

In most cases, an ethical dilemma similar to the one you are facing is handled by the school board or district, and these situation rarely reach the U.S. Supreme Court level. However, there are court cases that relate to grading policies. 

This case dealt an administrator who ordered a professor to change the final grade of one of his students. The professor sued, claiming violation of his First Amendment academic freedom. The court held that under the free speech clause, "Because the assignment of a letter grade is symbolic communication intended to send a specific message to the student, the individual professor's communicative act is entitled to some measure of First Amendment protection." The court also held, however, that the university administrators could have changed the student's grade themselves; the unconstitutional act was compelling the professor to change the grade.
 * Parate v. Isibor.(1986) **

At the elementary level, the case of Settle v. Dickson County School Board is a good one to review. A teacher at Dickson County Junior High School assigned a research paper to students. Each student was to sign up for the topic of his or her choice, which then required approval of any changes. Brittany Settle, a student in the class, originally signed up for a paper about drama, but later changed her topic to "The Life of Jesus" without approval. The teacher refused to accept Ms. Settle's paper and, when she refused to write on another topic, the student received a zero for the assignment. After exhausting the appeals process within the school system, Ms. Settle's father brought suit against the school, claiming that his daughter's free speech rights had been infringed. The teacher defended herself by providing six reasons for her decision. While this case dealt more the first amendment rights of the student, it does uphold the idea that the teacher decides the grades based on the work. The reasoning of the court upheld that teachers must retain control over their classrooms and their curriculum. This includes authority over grades and assignments.
 * Settle v. Dickson County School Board (1995) **

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